I am
currently working on a new, more extensive and more detailed English
version of the grammar. It will
eventually replace this one.
In the meantime you may take a peek preview at its temporary
location:
http://lowlands-l.net/grammar-new/

Students of Low Saxon
(Low German) will find on these pages lists and tables of North Saxon grammatical
forms and paradigms. This is an ongoing effort. Corrections and suggestions are welcome
and should be sent to
Reinhard "Ron" F. Hahn (sassisch@yahoo.com).
Further pages are being planned, including an introduction to
pronunciation.

What
is Low Saxon (Low German)?It is a language that
descended primarily from Old Saxon, which is also one of the ancestors of
English. Today’s Low Saxon (these days usually called “Low German” in
Germany) is spoken in what used to be the old territory of the Saxons (the
true Saxons, as opposed to the people of today’s German state of
Saxony) that covers today’s Northern Germany and the eastern provinces of
the Netherlands. It is also used by many North and Latin Americans as well
as by people in the former Soviet Union with roots in that Northwest European
region. This includes most Mennonites. Due to having been a suppressed
or even oppressed minority language within its own territory, the language
has never developed a standard variety and standard spelling. It is
greatly fragmented with regard to dialects, social groups and opinions,
and it is therefore endangered. However, Low Saxon literature goes back
uninterruptedly to
the early middle ages and is currently blossoming again, in great part due
to Low Saxon having become an officially recognized language in Germany,
the Netherlands and thus Europe and having
thus regained a measure of respectability.

Low Saxon (Low German)
was recognized as a legitimate language only recently. Prior to that,
the dialects of Northern Germany were regarded as belonging to German,
and the dialects of the Eastern Netherlands were regarded as belonging
to Dutch. Because of centuries of official and educational neglect and
suppression, the language has been unable to develop a standard
dialect and a standard orthography, even though there is a notable
written Low Saxon tradition. There are several spelling conventions,
based on German principles in Germany and based on Dutch principles in
the Netherlands, and few writers strictly adhered to any of them. So
far, spelling systems have been devised and developed mostly by
activists and writers with insufficient familiarity with phonological
principles, and most Low Saxon writers have been trying to write their
home dialect "phonetically." This disunity, together with attempts to
Germanize Low Saxon orthography, has led to a confusing situation that
does anything but help this minority language survive.

Only German-based spelling of the
North Saxon dialects will be used on these pages. Alternative spelling
will be listed (separated by "~"). However, the following conventions
will not be considered:

Long "a" tends to be
pronounced somewhat rounded (like long Swedish a, or like
ar in "posh" British English), and in some dialects it is
pronounced like a long "o" (as in German Boot or Scottish
English boat). Because of this, many writers spell long "a"
as å, åå or as o,
oo. Thus, the words Schaap 'sheep' and apen
'open' may elsewhere be found spelled Schååp, Schoop, åpen
or open respectively.

What is spelled öö (or ö in open syllables) tends
to represent the sound [öi] (like in French oeil). In some
dialects, this is pronounced [oi] (as in English boy) and
tends to be written äu or as eu on the basis of German
spelling. Thus, the words Drööm 'dreams' and löpen
'(we/you/they) ran' may elsewhere be found spelled Dräum,
Dreum, läupen or leupen.

* The literal meaning of the Low
Saxon title is "Ground Joists (or Thresholds) and Tiles of Low Saxon (Low
German)."